The Purpose Of The North American Colonies

Between 1492-1776, although many people moved to the “New World”, North America lost population due to the amount of Indians dying from war and diseases and the inability of colonists to replace them. John Murrin states, “losers far outnumbered winners” in “ a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.” This thought of a decreasing population broadens one’s perspective of history from that of an excluded American tale full of positivity to that of a more unbiased, all-encompassing analysis. The Indians and slaves have recently been noted as a more crucial part of history than previously accredited with.

It is evident that the drive to colonize this new nation had chiefly been for economic purposes and the fact that the European continent was becoming overpopulated. The New World had been discovered by explorers who wanted to locate a new route to India so that trade could be better established. However, once what is now known as the United States was founded, there were more opportunities for a variety of things, including slave labor, colonization, entrepreneurship, and even an escape from religious persecution and the social and political system of Europe. As a result of this drive for change, the European people aggressively came to America so that they could make changes, and this would be on behalf of the Native American people who already claimed the land.

Beginning with the southern Chesapeake colonies, the regions of North America were classified by their founding nation and structure. Several sects from all over Europe made North America their home throughout the 17th century. After facing prosecution in England, the Puritans and Separatists traveled to the New World’s northeast aiming to establish religiously tolerant settlements, whereas the Spanish Conquistadors explored the “West Indies” with hopes to exploit the Southwest’s piñata of expensive metals and non-Christian natives. Both groups shared the goal of a new world; however, New Englanders and the Spanish Conquistadores’ differed fundamentally in their initial motivation to explore the foreign paradise. Each group’s initial motivation

Before the English ventured to Roanoke Europeans explored and settled the New World. The Spanish were the most successful in settling the New World. They conquered most of Central and South America. Their main objective was to convert all of the Indians to Christianity. “Spain’s claim to posses the Americas was based on discovery, conquest, and settlement, but even more important, it was founded on the sacred enterprise of extending the Catholic faith to (in Spanish eyes) “barbarous” native peoples” (Horn 12).

In 1492 Christopher Columbus “discovered” the New World. This “discovery” led to the colonization of the New World by several European nations. European nations, such as Great Britain, started colonization for a variety of reasons.

The colonisation of North America by the Europeans became one of the most crucial points for the native North Americans. The differing experiences of contact between both cultures had overwhelmingly disastrous impacts on the normal way of life. From such contact arose the issue of land disputes, in turn resulting in massacres and frontier wars which could have otherwise been unnecessary. The factors stated above provide a suitable stimulus for a discussion in regards to the varying encounters of the Indigenous North Americans.

The extent to which the conflict between Great Britain and her North American colonies was economic in origin rather than rooted in political and social controversies and differences. For example, the imposement on trade and taxation on imports and exports.

During the early stages of North America, the Spanish settlements in the Southwest and the English colonies contrasted from each other as a result of different resources, religion, and various other factors. In the 17th century, North America was just beginning colonization. In 1588, the Spanish attacked the English but were defeated because the English used different tactics that were swifter. Both the Spanish settlers and English were devoted to their religions. While the English were trying to decide what path of religion to follow, the Spanish had already choses Christianity as their dominant religion. Some Spanish missionaries were founded in California and Texas with the goal to Christianize the natives. The English

Columbus, the first Spanish explorer to reach America, initially thought that the he had landed in the East Indies, which had been his ultimate goal. “His sea wanderings would have been written off as an expensive failure, once it was realized that he had not found the illusive water route to India, had it not been for the discovery of gold on Hispaniola in 1493”(Nash, 18). Once it became known that there were gold and other precious metals on this continent, people from Spain began to journey to America in hopes of gaining immense wealth. The Spanish claimed Panama, Mexico, parts of South America, and southern areas of what is now North America and these expeditions were typically led by military figures. The Spanish viewed America as land to be conquered and they viewed Native Americans

The Spanish for example, had a military fort in St, Augustine, Florida and carried on missionary activities as far north as Port Royal, South Carolina. Most of their colonization was either religion or military based as they planned to build missions to benefit the peaceful Native Americans and military outposts to deal with the hostile ones. The Spanish planed to use missions to grow their empire within the borders of America. The British on the other hand wished at first exploit the natives, fish and search for passage to the pacific. These were the ideas of Humphrey Gilbert. Gilbert makes a few voyages to America and nothing stays but after Gilbert dies, Sir Walter Raleigh asks to charter a new colony. He establishes the colonies Roanoke and Virginia and he eventually leaves, but in 1607 a joint stock company, the Virginia Company of London founds Jamestown. Eventually John Smith takes over Jamestown John Smith took over as a much more affective ruler. He then maps the colony, explores it and gets corn from the Indians so that the colonists can survive. The French however, did not colonize as much as the British did, and did not wish to harshly change the Native Americans way of life like the Spanish. In the early years, the French had one colony, New France but in 1682 the

Between 1492 and around 1735, Europe colonized in the Americas in order to gain more land. However, it was not due to excessive population in Europe, but rather mercantilism. In mercantilism, countries try to gain as much wealth as possible by increasing export and decreasing import. Europeans established the American colonies for their resources and not for the expansion of the countries. In North America, England colonized the eastern coast for its lumber, iron ore, and cash crops. The colonies were split into three sections, New England, the Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. Each had its own economy. In each of the colonies, the resources were gathered and turned into other products. However, there were not enough settlers willing to do this so the landowners used slavery to harvest and refine goods.

The Europeans were originally unaware that the Americas even existed. Explorers had accidentally landed on North America centuries before the discovery of the New World. Christian Crusaders played an important role in the indirect discovery; they wanted to have the goods that they had no previous knowledge of.

In Europe, population grew quickly and land value, prosperity, and trade increased with it. Also the rise of nationalism made the nation more powerful, unified, and imposed new taxes. Beginning with Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492, colonists settled in America for different reasons. Some came for profits; others came for religious freedom (and for escaping religious persecution). It was England, France, Spain and the Netherlands who, in the sixteenth century, launched major colonization programs in eastern North America. Each colony more or less differed or resembled in their first interaction with the Natives (such as the more peaceful contact of the French, the more hostile one of the Spaniards, and the peaceful-turned-hostile

The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment

There are various reasons why the English became interested in establishing North American colonies. The main reasons for establishing North American colonies were the need for raw materials as well as religious objectives but mostly economic goals. English settlers aimed to discover a new country, they searched for a passage to Asia yet they stumbled upon America. In this new land, foreigners searched for new raw materials as well as a way to market English goods. When the English came across this country they also discovered that it was not inhabited, as they came across Native Americans. Once they came across the indigenous group they carries along with the process of colonization migration, which involved the subordination of indigenous